Two plead not guilty to murder charges in San Ardo kidnapping case

Two men are facing multiple murder charges after they were arrested in connection with a convoluted kidnapping case that began in San Ardo this summer.

Additional charges filed this week indicate for the first time the teenage girl allegedly abducted in the case may have been physically battered by her kidnappers, one of whom has been described as her boyfriend.

Prosecutor Steve Somers said the new charges came after sheriff's deputies continued to investigate how two men were slain in the home of the alleged kidnapping victim, a 16-year-old girl who was the subject of a weeklong statewide Amber Alert.

During the past two months, when arrests racked up and charges later dropped against some suspects, the case took several abrupt twists as sheriff's investigators tried to make sense of what happened in the tiny South Monterey County town late July 28.

"They've been diligently working on this case," Somers said.

This week, Juan Manuel Salazar Jr., 19, and Enrique Nunez Lopez, 23, entered not guilty pleas to the new charges and are being held in Monterey County Jail.

Somers said a gun was used to kill Hector Reyes, 22, and Daniel Fraga, 25, both of King City.

The suspects, Salazar and Lopez, have been described as Sureño gang members and gang enhancements have been added to their charges.

The saga began July 28 in San Ardo, a town south of King City with a population of 517, according to the latest U.S. Census.

Deputies said homeowners Jose and Marina Serrato returned to their Railroad Avenue house about 10 p.m. and found the bodies of Reyes and Fraga in their bathroom. The men, who were unknown to the couple, were dead of gunshot wounds.

They discovered their 16-year-old daughter was missing.

The Serratos alerted authorities, who believed the girl was kidnapped by her boyfriend, identified as Salazar, and that the two were possibly headed to Mexico with the young man's father, Juan Manuel Salazar Sr. of Paso Robles.

An Amber Alert was issued, with father and son named as "persons of interest" in the kidnapping and slayings.

Although the girl was named in early news reports while she was sought under the Amber Alert, Somers and the court refer to her as "Jane Doe." The Herald generally withholds the names of minors who are alleged victims of crimes.

While the Amber Alert remained in effect for the girl on July 29, investigators got their first break in the case when the suspects' car was recovered. Deputies found the white Acura in San Ardo, said sheriff's Cmdr. Jerry Teeter.

That night, Salazar Sr. turned himself in to police in King City.

But his son and the girl were still missing and the Amber Alert remained in effect.

On July 30, sheriff's investigators released the name of another person of interest, 21-year-old Rogelio Aviles, who deputies believed might have been traveling with the couple.

Salazar Sr. was not charged in connection with the case. His son's mother was picked up by Paso Robles police. On Aug. 3, Maria Delia Rodriguez was arrested on charges of kidnapping, aiding and abetting, child abuse, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and destruction of evidence, and was held in lieu of $750,000 bail in Monterey County Jail.

The next day, a week after the Amber Alert and the discovery of the slayings, Salazar and his girlfriend, Jane Doe, surrendered to U.S. Border Patrol agents at San Ysidro, and were turned over to sheriff's deputies. Monterey County investigators flew to San Diego to pick them up, said sheriff's spokeswoman Cmdr. Lisa Nash.

Salazar was booked into county jail on suspicion of homicide and kidnapping, but the case and the charges were still far from resolved.

Releases and arrests

Rodriguez was arraigned and entered a not guilty plea to felony child endangerment.

The next day, Aug. 9, her son, Salazar, was released from jail after the District Attorney's Office failed to file charges against him because of insufficient evidence.

In less than a week, he was re-arrested — but prosecutors still only charged him with child abduction.

Meanwhile, the District Attorney's Office dropped all charges against his mother.

Rogelio Aviles was cleared of any involvement, Somers said. By late September, a new suspect, Enrique Lopez, was charged in the kidnapping.

Somers said that besides the two homicide counts, charges added this week for both defendants include three child endangerment allegations related to Jane Doe.

The counts include assault and battery on a minor with intent to cause great bodily injury, he said.

But Thursday's arraignments do not necessarily mean an end to the criminal charges.

Somers said he is still considering possible firearms counts. And while Salazar Sr. has not been charged in the case, Somers said he does not rule it out.

"If anything, he'd be guilty of accessory after the fact," Somers said. "But at the moment, that's something we're less interested in than getting the murder case together."

Conviction as a felony accessory can carry up to a three-year prison sentence.

Salazar Jr. and Lopez are next scheduled to appear in court Oct. 23 to set a date for a preliminary hearing in the case.